D.C. Parking Meters Getting More Expensive

The District is updating its 15,453 meters to reflect rate increases approved by the D.C. Council. The District Department of Transportation said today that all of them should be charging the higher rates by April 30.

Under the new parking fee rules, meters that were charging $1 per hour will charge $2 per hour. The rate at all other D.C. meters will increase by 25 cents an hour.

Click on this link for a DDOT guide to meter operations. It includes answers to hours of operation, how to use a single-space meter and how to use the newer multi-space meters, which take credit cards. This page on the D.C. Department of Public Works Web site explains how to deal with a busted meter.

I wonder how many non-DC vehicles are parked at these meters during the hours the parking times are enforced? Or, is this another tax for those of us who live and shop in the city?

In my view, the decisions of the council have mostly served to provide free parking to the drivers who come into town during the day and park in our neighborhoods, the night clubbers who come in during the evening and park illegally, the delivery people who double park during rush hour downtown, and the churchgoers who come in on Sunday and leave their vehicles where they see fit.

Sheesh, the photo shows that some of these are 4-hour meters. That means you need to carry $8 in quarters to stay there? Who carries that kind of change? I have a change keeper in my car, but it only keeps $4 in quarters.

I think that if DC is going to increase parking like this *AND* replace the meters, they should have upgraded the system to one like Portland, OR. There, you have machines on each block where there is public parking, where you pay (and can pay by CC or cash) and then get a sticker which you stick to the inside of your window. It lists how much you paid, when you paid and when the parking expires. You only need one machine per block, people don't break the machines and it is clear when the parking starts and when it ends. A much more intelligent system and one that is easy to upgrade with new fare rates. It's easy to use and much harder to game the system. These $2 per hour, 4 hour parking machines are an idiotic solution to needing to raise parking fees.